Storm Éowyn was among the most destructive weather events to hit this island in two or three generations.
While it quickly moved from reality to memory for the vast majority of people once the electricity and water were reconnected, for a cohort of forestry owners the impact of Éowyn is still very much in the here and now.
Paddy McGowan is one of those forestry owners.
McGowan, who is a part-time suckler farmer, has 39ha or close to 100ac, of mixed plantation in and around the village of Kiltyclogher, Co Leitrim, which was ravaged by Éowyn.
The part-time farmer estimates that his forests were worth around €8,000/ac, or close to €800,000, “before the wind”, but their current value is pure guesswork or conjecture.
“It could cost me money to get the timber out,” McGowan maintained.
The lands were planted in 1994-1995, when McGowan purchased the ground from his siblings after the death of his father. He had to borrow the money to buy the various small holdings from the other family members, but the banks would only loan him the funds if he agreed to plant the land.
“The only way I could get the money was to plant it [the land] and mandate the forestry [premium] payments to the bank,” he explained.
McGowan planted 35.8ha of sitka spruce, Japanese larch, log-pole pine and silver birch. He had a further 3.2ha of oak and ash.
The ash contracted dieback and is “as rotten as a maggot”, but the oak and the softwoods were described by McGowan as “very good”.
“I thinned it two years ago and we could have gone for clear-fell in four or five years time,” he said.
However, Éowyn put a stop to those plans.
Like many other plantation owners, McGowan does not know for certain the exact condition of his plantation, but the indications from the outside of the forest – and reports from those who have worked right through the woods – is not good.
“I never saw the likes of the wind. It tossed the trees like dominoes. Destroyed pockets of the forest right through it – just flattened it,” he said.
Paddy McGowan beside a damaged stand of forestry.
While the plantations are too dangerous to enter, crews working with the ESB confirmed to McGowan that the damage was not confined to the edges of the various forest blocks and that whole sections of his plantations “have been destroyed”.
Like hundreds of other forestry owners impacted by storm Éowyn, McGowan does not have a felling licence and therefore cannot get going at clearing his plantations.
“My thinning licence is out of date at this stage,” he explained.
“I have been on to my planner to make an application for a licence. I want a clear-fell licence, so that I can sell the timber and replant,” he added.
However, McGowan’s fear is that the felling licence application will take so long to be approved by the Department of Agriculture that the flattened timber will have rotted on the ground before he gets the green light to take the trees out.
The Minister of State Michael Healy-Rae and senior Department of Agriculture officials have insisted that licence applications from those affected by storms Éowyn and Darragh will be streamlined and turned around quickly, but McGowan is not convinced.
“I have a neighbour who is three years trying to get a [clear-fell] licence,” he pointed out.
McGowan is also nervous that ordinary farm foresters could struggle to get contractors to clear their devastated plantations, or that sawmills will be in a position to take their timber given the scale of the damage done.
The Department has estimated that over 23,000ha of forestry was damaged by storms Éowyn and Darragh. This equates to around 10m cubic metres of timber or more than twice the country’s saw-milling capacity of 4.3m cubic metres.
For McGowan the immediate priority is securing a felling licence and the go ahead to clear his trees.
“If you don’t have a felling licence, you’re in a vacuum, in limbo,” he said.
‘Export logs if the sawmills can’t take them’
Paddy McGowan is committed to replanting his plantations. In fact, he is committed to forestry.
“The premiums on my plantation, paid for the land and helped pay the mortgage and educate five children,” he said.
However, he believes the Department of Agriculture needs to be more proactive in helping farm foresters.
“The Department needs to really relax the licence [application process] for those farmers with windblow. I’m not saying you don’t have to apply for a licence, but allow us to get into the marketplace with our timber as soon as possible,” McGowan said.
“We also need to be given the same priority as Coillte and the other forestry companies to get our timber to the market,” he added.
McGowan also contended that supports should be put in place to export logs if the sawmills here can’t take the volume of timber on the ground.
“There is a big demand in Scotland and in Europe for timber. Timber is very valuable at the moment,” he pointed out.
Storm Éowyn was among the most destructive weather events to hit this island in two or three generations.
While it quickly moved from reality to memory for the vast majority of people once the electricity and water were reconnected, for a cohort of forestry owners the impact of Éowyn is still very much in the here and now.
Paddy McGowan is one of those forestry owners.
McGowan, who is a part-time suckler farmer, has 39ha or close to 100ac, of mixed plantation in and around the village of Kiltyclogher, Co Leitrim, which was ravaged by Éowyn.
The part-time farmer estimates that his forests were worth around €8,000/ac, or close to €800,000, “before the wind”, but their current value is pure guesswork or conjecture.
“It could cost me money to get the timber out,” McGowan maintained.
The lands were planted in 1994-1995, when McGowan purchased the ground from his siblings after the death of his father. He had to borrow the money to buy the various small holdings from the other family members, but the banks would only loan him the funds if he agreed to plant the land.
“The only way I could get the money was to plant it [the land] and mandate the forestry [premium] payments to the bank,” he explained.
McGowan planted 35.8ha of sitka spruce, Japanese larch, log-pole pine and silver birch. He had a further 3.2ha of oak and ash.
The ash contracted dieback and is “as rotten as a maggot”, but the oak and the softwoods were described by McGowan as “very good”.
“I thinned it two years ago and we could have gone for clear-fell in four or five years time,” he said.
However, Éowyn put a stop to those plans.
Like many other plantation owners, McGowan does not know for certain the exact condition of his plantation, but the indications from the outside of the forest – and reports from those who have worked right through the woods – is not good.
“I never saw the likes of the wind. It tossed the trees like dominoes. Destroyed pockets of the forest right through it – just flattened it,” he said.
Paddy McGowan beside a damaged stand of forestry.
While the plantations are too dangerous to enter, crews working with the ESB confirmed to McGowan that the damage was not confined to the edges of the various forest blocks and that whole sections of his plantations “have been destroyed”.
Like hundreds of other forestry owners impacted by storm Éowyn, McGowan does not have a felling licence and therefore cannot get going at clearing his plantations.
“My thinning licence is out of date at this stage,” he explained.
“I have been on to my planner to make an application for a licence. I want a clear-fell licence, so that I can sell the timber and replant,” he added.
However, McGowan’s fear is that the felling licence application will take so long to be approved by the Department of Agriculture that the flattened timber will have rotted on the ground before he gets the green light to take the trees out.
The Minister of State Michael Healy-Rae and senior Department of Agriculture officials have insisted that licence applications from those affected by storms Éowyn and Darragh will be streamlined and turned around quickly, but McGowan is not convinced.
“I have a neighbour who is three years trying to get a [clear-fell] licence,” he pointed out.
McGowan is also nervous that ordinary farm foresters could struggle to get contractors to clear their devastated plantations, or that sawmills will be in a position to take their timber given the scale of the damage done.
The Department has estimated that over 23,000ha of forestry was damaged by storms Éowyn and Darragh. This equates to around 10m cubic metres of timber or more than twice the country’s saw-milling capacity of 4.3m cubic metres.
For McGowan the immediate priority is securing a felling licence and the go ahead to clear his trees.
“If you don’t have a felling licence, you’re in a vacuum, in limbo,” he said.
‘Export logs if the sawmills can’t take them’
Paddy McGowan is committed to replanting his plantations. In fact, he is committed to forestry.
“The premiums on my plantation, paid for the land and helped pay the mortgage and educate five children,” he said.
However, he believes the Department of Agriculture needs to be more proactive in helping farm foresters.
“The Department needs to really relax the licence [application process] for those farmers with windblow. I’m not saying you don’t have to apply for a licence, but allow us to get into the marketplace with our timber as soon as possible,” McGowan said.
“We also need to be given the same priority as Coillte and the other forestry companies to get our timber to the market,” he added.
McGowan also contended that supports should be put in place to export logs if the sawmills here can’t take the volume of timber on the ground.
“There is a big demand in Scotland and in Europe for timber. Timber is very valuable at the moment,” he pointed out.
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